www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/msg69057.htmlHOW DAVID ASIMOV, THE BIGGEST CHILD PORN PROCESSOR IN CALIFORNIA SKATED AWAY
FROM FEDERAL PRISON WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM HIS FRIENDS by Kathryn Dixon �
2000
David Asimov, of Living Oak Court, Bennett Ridge, Santa Rosa, the son of the
late science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, was sentenced on March 28, 2001 to
six months' home detention with electronic monitoring and three years federal
probation for possessing child pornography. U.S. District Court Judge Maxine
M. Chesney sentenced Asimov after reviewing a series of sealed psychiatric
reports, one of which was ordered by the court. Asimov who was charged with
four federal counts of possession of child pornography with each count
carrying a five year sentence, pled guilty to two counts in a plea bargain
deal. There was no forfeiture of any of Asimov's assets in this case,
despite his owning a home in Santa Rosa purchased in 1996 for $375,000, and
despite his receiving $3,000 per month from his father's estate.
How did Asimov, who possessed one of the largest stashes of pornography in
California, skate away from federal prison? A look at the players yields the
answer.
Asimov's child porn stash was so big many child victims and perpetrators
would have taken a fall, had Asimov been zealously prosecuted at trial.
Asimov would probably have escaped detection, if he had not taken his
personal computer to a store when its scanner and color printer
malfunctioned. A technician working on the machine discovered images of
children engaged in sexual acts with adults. A store supervisor contacted
the police. Asimov's case is not the only case where tips about child porn
were generated by store technicians. It seems either child pornographers are
stupid about fixing their computers or they are unwitting framed.
The police raided Asimov's four-bedroom home with a search warrant and
discovered the largest child porn "processing center" ever discovered in
California.
"There were thousands of disks, thousands of videos," said Sonoma County
Deputy District Attorney Gary Medvigy, who personally referred to Asimov's
home as a "processing center" for child pornography. "Anything imaginable
regarding sex between human beings and human beings, or human beings and
animals, was there. Whatever your imagination can conjure up, he had it. It
was like walking into a TV studio" Santa Rosa police seized scores of
computer disks and approximately 4,000 videocassettes from Asimov's home, and
approximately 1,000 of those videos contained child pornography.
Medvigy said he had evidence to show Asimov distributed child pornography
through the Internet ``on at least a few occasions,'' which would constitute
a felony. He said Asimov had 14 video machines arranged for high-speed
editing and copying, and possessed cases of blank tapes.
In addition to the videotapes and computer disks recovered, police reportedly
found video cameras, several VCRs, and a costly table-top scanner to create
computer images. "He had a whole lot of editing and mass production
capabilities," Santa Rosa Police officer Zamudio said. "We were greeted by
thousands of tapes, disks, periodicals, and commercial videos with covers
showing child pornography. We spent two days collecting, packaging, and
transporting all the items."
The Sonoma County District Attorney J. Michael Mullins covered up the case,
let the public believe the feds would prosecute it more thoroughly, and then
passed the cover up to U.S. Attorney Mueller.
In March 1998, Asimov was arrested in Sonoma County and charged with two
counts of felony exploitation of a child and possession of pornography.
Asimov faced a maximum state penalty of six years. The identity of the child
whom Asimov alleged exploited was never revealed to the public. Parents and
associates of the child never came forward. Was there a secret settlement in
the style of Michael Jackson? Was any effort at all made to identify the
children in the tapes? In Europe, parents who are looking for their missing
children or for evidence of child abuse are allowed to view pictures of faces
of children depicted in porno tapes which are seized by the police. No one
in Sonoma County reported any photo arrays seized from Asimov's home being
shown by the police to any parents whose children were exploited or
kidnapped.
Asimov was arraigned in Sonoma County Municipal Court, with bail set at
$250,000. Asimov spent a few days in jail. His lawyer Andrian said Asimov
had the money to post bail, but preferred to attempt to get out on his own
recognizance. In fact, a few days later, Judge Frank Passalacqua released
Asimov after having been told no local victims were identified in the porn
seized from Asimov's home. Thus, within only a few days of his arrest,
Asimov was released, because the police happened to know no local victims
were involved. How could they have known so fast? Obviously, the Sonoma
County Court didn't care that victims who were not "local" may have been
involved. Someone's child was on those tapes.
"As far as local victims, we don't know of any. There are some homemade
tapes,'' Sonoma County Deputy District Attorney Gary Medvigy told the judge.
Why was a distinction made by the Sonoma County Judge and District Attorney
regarding determining if Asimov's tapes involved "local" victims as opposed
to non-local victims? What did District Attorney Mullins consider to be
"local"? Within Sonoma County? Within California? Medvigy also
acknowledged to Judge Passalacqua that the investigation was still in its
infancy because of the massive amount of material taken from Asimov's house.
Despite the investigation being in its "infancy", Judge Passalacqua set
Asimov loose.
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